Friday, June 24, 2011

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

These things drive me crazy. Don’t get me wrong- they are delicious for sure! But to get them crispy, and not steam or get mushy seems to be a loosing battle in which i cannot figure out how to win. I have read countless ways on how to get the “perfect sweet potato fries” but none of them have helped me. Some of the suggestions included soaking them in water any where from 30 sec to 3 days, putting an egg white on them before they go in the oven, coat them with cheese, just cut them and roll them in flour, use lots of oil, use no oil, use aluminum foil, don’t use anything to keep them from sticking- I mean what are we suppose to do with these things?! To which my first response is Just make mashed sweet potatoes! But that’s for another post on another day. For now the question still at hand is sweet potato fries. What i came up with was cut them thin, and use a large amount of oil. When spreading them out on the pan don’t crowd them, and try to just use one pan for one oven so that you don’t end making a steam bath for the SP. Also, make sure the oven is HOT! The only other trick which i think is the most important is use the pan that always seems to burn everything. Maybe it’s just me, but i have this pan that i absolutely hate because no matter how low the temp is, how long the cook time is, it burns everything and it drives me crazy... Unless i want to make sweet potato fries and then it is my best friend. Try to use a pan that will them. That really is the only way to ensure some crispiness and it actually tastes quite pleasing with the contrasting sweet tones of the potato. None of the measurements are really given because it just really matters on what potato you use, how thick you cut it, etc. This is one recipe where you really can eyeball it all, and it will be sure to come out fine.

-3 medium sweet potatoes
-Olive oil (or you could use grape seed oil. I personally do not use regular vegetable oil or canola oil because i do not like the taste)
-Salt to taste

SO, HOW DO WE MAKE ‘EM?
First i just want to throw out a disclaimer. This isn;t meant to be a “recipe.” This is meant just as a template with tips, to get you thinking next time your in the kitchen making these.

First I peeled these babies. I don’t like the skin on any potato to ever be involved in the dish, but thats just up to you.
Slice each potato into 10-18 slices (slice them length wise). How many you get form each potato just depends on how big your potato is. Next I soaked them in a big bowl of salted water for ten minutes.

After the ten minutes, i dried them off REALLY well and tossed them in oil. I turned my oven on to 450 and stuck them in for about 15 mins, turning them 2-3 times. (But you know your oven so adjust accordingly) Once out sprinkle with salt and enjoy!